Milan, Italy, September 27, 2010 – While Japan sits on the verge of possibly recording their worst finish at the FIVB Men’s World Championship after losing their first two first round matches, Italy still holds a place in their hearts according to “local boy” Yu Koshikawa.

The 26-year-old spiker is the only Japanese player competing in the Italian national championship having moved to Padova in 2009 and despite Japan’s less-than-satisfactory results with defeats to Italy and Iran on Saturday and Sunday, he is happy his team mates have had the chance to experience Italy, which is host the FIVB Men’s World Championship for the first time in 1978, in more ways than one.

“In Japan the supporters are mainly girls, while in Italy you do not see this difference,” Koshikawa explained. “Italian supporters are warmer compared to Japan and this make them feel closer to us.”

He also highlighted the differences between the Asian and European way of playing, primarily on the technical point of view: “Volleyball is played at high level in Europe and every single player is extremely talented. I personally think that this is very positive for me: training and competing with well-established players helps me improve and learn on a daily basis. I feel really comfortable in Italy, I like Padova, both the city and the team.”

Koshikawa played in Japan’s two opening matches against Italy and Iran, where he scored two points in each, coming on as a super sub and despite the rough start for his team, he still harbours hopes of of improvement ahead of their day three game against Egypt.“Our main goal is to improve on the eighth place finish that we reached in the last edition,” he said.